[1] Denis Dodart was born in 1634 in a Parisian middle class family that belonged to the bourgeoisie.

He was a son of Jean Dodart, notary public with a passion for literature, and Marie Dubois, daughter of a lawyer at the Parlement of Paris.

He adds in another letter "Notre Licentié [sic] qui est si fçavant, s'appelle Dodart.

il est le fils d'un Bourgeois de Paris, fort honnête homme.

His father Jean Dodart was a Parisian notary and his mother Marie Dubois was the daughter of a lawyer.

Suspicion that his parents, like many from the legal professions, had been supporters of the Fronde uprising nearly derailed his election to the Academy of Sciences.